1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge library apparatus for housing recording media in a plurality of cartridges and selecting a specified cartridge from the cartridges to perform read/write processing of information for the cartridge, and more particularly to a technique for preventing a fall of a cartridge with a simple configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
The aforementioned cartridge library apparatus has been developed for housing a plurality of removable storage media to facilitate addition and update of stored information in response to a demand for a significant increase in storage capacity associated with improved performance of computers. The apparatus has a housing portion for housing a plurality of removable storage media such as magnetic tape cartridges or optical disk cartridges in which a specified storage medium of the storage media is automatically unloaded and loaded to a read/write portion for processing stored information.
A plurality of cartridges housed in the housing portion are individually designated identification symbols such as predetermined bar codes. When a specific cartridge is to be selected, a hand robot provided in a body of the apparatus is manipulated such that an end of the hand robot irradiates laser light to read an identification symbol with a sensor for selecting the specified cartridge.
Typically, an operator performs loading/unloading of and changeover to a replacement cartridge in such a cartridge library apparatus as required. Such loading/unloading operations of a cartridge by an operator may cause an accidental fall of the cartridge or other foreign matters into the apparatus body. In the apparatus, an accessor mechanism for controlling the hand robot operates at a high speed, and the accessor mechanism may be damaged by such a fallen substance, or a fallen cartridge may be broken. For this reason, various measures have been conventionally taken to prevent such a fall.
Among them, as an example of a simple configuration which uses no power sources such as motors or actuators, JP-A-03-125369 discloses an assembled type magnetic tape device. This device is provided with an entry door mechanism as shown in FIG. 1. The entry door mechanism has been proposed for the purpose of preventing a fall of a cartridge by hand 27 for moving a cartridge from a stocker portion to a read/write portion being erroneously inserted into stocker portion 30 when an operator opens entry door 20.
Speaking briefly of the configuration and operation, the device is provided with entry shutter 26 which has opening part 28 corresponding to each entry of stocker portion 30 and is movable vertically interlocking with the opening and closing of the entry door between stocker portion 30 for storing a medium and hand 27.
The operation thereof is such that when the device operates and entry door 20 is closed, opening part 28 of entry shutter 26 is at a position corresponding to each entry of stocker portion 30 and hand 27 can freely enter into or exit from each entry of stocker portion 30. When an operator opens entry door 20 for reasons such as replacement of a medium, slide lever 22 is pulled by rocker lever 21 in a direction of arrow A. With this, link lever 24 is turned with lever pin 23 provided on slide lever 22 in a direction of arrow D to move link pin 25 in a direction of arrow C. Since this also causes entry shutter 26 to move in a direction of arrow C, frame 29 for partitioning opening parts 28 of entry shutter 26 moves to a position near a central position of each entry of stocker portion 30, thereby closing stocker portion 30 on the side of hand 27 with entry shutter 26.
The aforementioned prior art, however, has the following problem.
Specifically, since entry shutter 26 consists of opening portion 28 and frame 29 and a gap exists between frame 29 and stocker portion 30, foreign matters such as a hand of an operator may enter into the device from the gap. Hand 27 can be prevented from entering into the stocker portion but it is not possible to reliably prevent other foreign matters from entering into the cartridge library apparatus.
The present invention is made in view of such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a cartridge library apparatus capable of covering an entire opening portion on the side of an apparatus body interlocking with the opening of a door provided on the apparatus body when the door is opened with a simple mechanism without requiring power such as motors or actuators.
To achieve the aforementioned object, a cartridge library apparatus according to the present invention comprises a door having a plurality of cells for housing cartridges formed in an inner surface on the side of an apparatus body, and provided openably to an opening portion of the apparatus body, an inner door provided in the apparatus body and movable to close the entire opening portion of the apparatus body, and a motion converting mechanism for driving the opening and closing of the inner door interlocking with opening and closing operations of the door such that the opening portion is closed when the door is open and the opening portion is opened when the door is closed.
The motion converting mechanism includes a cam follower mounted on the inner door on the apparatus body side, and a cam plate mounted on the door side in correspondence with the cam follower and having a cam groove movably engaged with the cam follower.
The cam follower is rotatably mounted on the inner door.
The cam groove is formed to run from the central axis side of pivotal movement to the end side of the pivotal movement of the door and to run along the path of the pivotal movement of the door near the end side of the pivotal movement of the door.
The aforementioned cam groove near the end side of the pivotal movement of the door is formed to run along the path of the pivotal movement of the door and is set to have a length greater than the periphery of the mounting height of the cartridges.
A plurality of rollers having a rotating axis along a horizontal direction are provided in a top portion of the inner door, each of the rollers has a substantially U-shaped groove formed on its periphery, and each of the rollers is disposed on a guide rail provided within the apparatus body through the U-shaped groove, whereby the inner door is movably mounted on the apparatus body.
Additionally, a plurality of side rollers having a rotating axis along a vertical direction are provided in a bottom portion of the inner door, each of the side rollers is engaged with a substantially U-shaped side rail provided within the apparatus body, whereby the movement of the inner door in a direction orthogonal to the plane thereof is suppressed.
With the aforementioned configuration, the cartridge library apparatus according to the present invention produces the following favorable effects.
First, when the cartridge housing door is opened, the inner door is moved interlocking with the angle of opening/closing of the cartridge housing door to cover the interior of the cartridge library apparatus. Thus, when an operator opens and closes the cartridge housing door for adding or replacing a cartridge in the cartridge library apparatus, it is possible to prevent a cartridge, tools, or other foreign matters such as a hand of the operator from entering into the cartridge library apparatus to ensure safety of the cartridge apparatus and the operator.
Additionally, a simple mechanism in which the inner door is moved along the path of the cam plate mounted on the cartridge housing door when the cartridge housing door is opened and closed eliminates the need for using power such as motors or actuators and sensors, thereby allowing a reduction in the number of components and a reduction in cost.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description referring to the accompanying drawings which illustrate an example of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.